SERVICES,   FOREIGN  RIGHTS  &   SUBMISSIONS
 

•   THE ESSENCE OF KNOWLEDGE IS, HAVING IT, TO APPLY IT    •

Ω
Knowledge is of two kinds: inner and outer.
We either know a subject ourselves
or we know where we can find
information about it.
We are at your
disposal.

•

Should you be interested in our services, in foreign rights,
or you are seeking a permission or willing to submit a proposal,
 please feel confident to fill up and submitting
the form below,  or us.
We will send you a follow up message,
usually within two business days.
 

SUBMITTING   A  PROPOSAL

Semar Publishers are pleased to receive submissions for fiction,
and non-fiction in the areas of Humanities and Social sciences.
All submissions should be sent with an envelope and return postage.
For fiction, submissions must be through a literary agent, and we would
prefer a synopsis and a sample chapter in the first instance.

We require World English language rights – as we distribute both in the
UK and USA, as well as in the English language export markets –
 and or Dutch and Italian languages rights.
We cannot accept email submissions in any category.
All submissions are to be sent to our Editorial office:

Semar Publishers
PO Box 18543
NL- 2502EM The Hague

Laan van Meerdervoort 70
NL- 2517AN The Hague
Netherlands




Frequently Asked Questions about Proposals
You may have questions, for example, about how to submit a proposal or preparing your manuscript. Answers to the questions that authors most frequently ask are given here.

Submitting a proposal
Preparing your manuscript
The production process and getting your book into the market
Contracts, advances and royalties


SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL


Can I get feedback on my idea before submitting a full proposal?
Yes, you can submit an outline proposal to us and we will give you feedback as soon as possible.


Who do I submit my proposal to?
Please submit your proposal to the relevant .


What should a proposal contain?
Please contact us in order to find out what must go in the proposal document.







PREPARING YOUR MANUSCRIPT


How should I deliver my manuscript?
The simple answer is that we need two hard copies, both double spaced and a copy on disc
with no design. You also need to include any diagrammatical material, figures or charts.
Please contact us for a fuller answer and a Manuscript Delivery Checklist.


Do I need a photo of myself for the book and if so, in what format do you need them?
Sometimes we use author photos and sometimes we don’t. It all depends on whether you, as the author, want us to, what kind of book it is and whether the jacket design allows for it.


When do I have to obtain permission to use third party materials?
It is your responsibility to obtain permission to reproduce in your text any copyright material
in which you do not control the copyright. It is best to start obtaining permission as soon as
possible, ideally while you are writing the manuscript.
For very small abstracts or excerpts, authors and publishers may allow you to use
the items free of charge but you must still obtain written permission.
Permission must always be obtained in respect of material (no matter how little)
which has been adapted in any way.
You should bear in mind that publishers or individuals could charge exceptionally high fees
for the right to reproduce their copyright work. Unless your contract with us states otherwise,
you are ultimately responsible for paying the permissions fees. If you apply for permission early
enough, but the fee is too high, there may be time to choose an alternative,
less expensive figure or piece of text.
Permissions should all be cleared by the time you deliver your manuscript.
If the permissions have not been cleared in time, publication may be delayed
while the outstanding permissions are obtained and the acknowledgments copy completed.







THE PRODUCTION PROCESS AND GETTING YOUR BOOK INTO THE MARKET


What happens after I deliver my manuscript?
•  Your manuscript is allocated to an in-house development editor who will follow your book
from manuscript, through the whole production process, to final bound copies.
•  The manuscript is copy-edited by an external copy-editor. You will probably receive some editorial queries at this stage via the development editor.
•  The copy-editing stage is the last stage at which material can be added to or deleted from the typescript, so any last minute amendments must be made now.
•  The copy-edited manuscript and disks are handed over to production.
•  The book is designed and any artwork commissioned.
•  The manuscript is sent to be typeset.
•  About 3-4 weeks later your editor will send you proofs to read.
You’ll usually have 1-2 weeks to read them and make any essential corrections
(no rewriting at this stage).
•  At the same time the proofs will be read against the manuscript by a professional proofreader.
The designer will also check the proofs for any design inconsistencies.
•  Also during these 2 weeks the index will be prepared – either by you or a professional indexer which you will pay for (please discuss this with your publisher).
•  The development editor will collate all the corrections onto one set of proofs,
which will be sent back to the typesetters for correction.
•  The typesetter will provide postscript pages and the development editor
will check that all corrections have been made.
•  When the pages are approved, they will be sent to the printer.
The printing process takes approximately 4 weeks.
•  A few weeks later you will receive advance copies of the published books.
•  The above process usually takes between six and seven months (longer for 2 colour books).


Why do books have to be a specific number of pages?
Printers print onto large sheets of paper which are folded in a certain way before the pages are cut apart to make sections of a book which are then collated. The size of the sheets of paper used and the page size determines whether the sections are 16 pages or 32 pages long. Therefore, the extent (number of pages) of all books is generally divisible by 16 or 32.


Why isn’t my book on the bookshelves on the publication date?
Books are generally sent from the printer to our warehouse 3-5 days before the publication date. We get a few advance copies just after the day that printing finishes and will send you
some copies of your new book directly from here.
Once the books arrive at our warehouse they are unpacked, checked and booked in. Only then can stock start to be picked, packed, invoiced and sent out to the distributors. Once they arrive at the distributors they have to be unpacked and booked in before being delivered to the shops.
Once they arrive at the shops they have to be unpacked and booked in before being taken onto
the shop floor and shelved. At certain busy times it is possible that this may
take more than the two weeks we normally allow.


What’s the deal with other parts of Semar elsewhere in the world, e.g. USA?
This information is for English language books only.
We now have our own distribution forces in many countries around the world such as USA, Australia, and in Europe. If a territory decides that they can sell a book, they take a quantity from us as a stock transfer (please note that in theory, some of this stock can be returned to us later, just as a bookshop can return unsold stock). They will pay us a fee on the book and the authors will get the percentage specified in their contract of their net receipts.
If you have any questions on this issue as a whole,
the best is to get in touch with our Marketing department.
If you have any concerns over your book being represented in a particular territory
or if you are partaking in some promotional activity outside your country,
please your Product Manager.


I’m going to appear at a conference. How do I go about promoting my book?
Many authors expect us to be able to support a conference appearance with a person manning a stall displaying their book. Regrettably, this means taking a sales representative off the road for a day and, in our experience, this just does not make economic sense. However, there are things we could do for any appearance if you let us know in time.
We could produce flyers for you with order forms promoting your book for you to give out.
We could get copies of your book to the conference under a lot of circumstances, but again, please do bear in mind that it can take as much as 4-5 weeks to get books across Europe.
If you are near one of our major accounts we can notify the local sales representative and they will try to get extra stock of your book into the shops nearby.
Please let us know of forthcoming events in your calendar that you would like our help with
by your Product Manager.


Why does Amazon have my books as dispatched in 2-3 days or 3 weeks?
Internet bookshops are like normal bookshops. They buy books from us and hold them
in a warehouse and they occasionally run out. When this happens, the screen may say
that the book will take a little longer than usual to be sent out to the customer.
Occasionally, we go out of stock and need to reprint a book.
In this case the message from Amazon will say that a book is temporarily unavailable.
Like a high street shop, occasionally Amazon will not stock a book, but we have a good working
relationship with Amazon and if you notice that something is not as it should be
then click here to let us know and we will do our best to put it right.


Bognor Regis Waterstone’s bookstore doesn’t have my book. Why?
There are several reasons why this could be:
•  Waterstone’s bookstore didn’t feel the need for your  book and they didn’t buy any.
•  They bought some copies and didn’t sell them, so after a few months they returned them to us.
•  They bought copies, sold them all and haven’t got round to re-ordering it.
If there is a reason why that particular shop should stock your book then let us know and we’ll get our sales representative to do their best. If they had copies and returned them, there will generally have to be a new reason for us to try again with them. If they haven’t got round to re-ordering it, we will definitely get our sales representative on the case. Whatever the reason, the best way to get your book stocked is to ask for it in the shops. Then at least shop staff will be aware of the fact that it’s available and in demand!







CONTRACTS, ADVANCES AND ROYALTIES

Do I need to send an invoice to get my advance?
No. As soon as we receive the signed contract we will raise any payment due to you then and likewise when you supply your manuscript, as per the terms of your contract. This needs to be authorised and then sent to our Authors Accounts Department, based in our head office who will raise a cheque for you and post it to you first class. Please bear in mind that it may take longer to send a cheque abroad, and that it takes longer to raise a payment in currencies other than euro. If you would prefer to be paid by bank transfer, please supply your bank details.
If you have any concerns, queries, or just want to check on a payment, please don’t hesitate to contact us, and we will be happy to chase up any outstanding payments for you.


How do I read my royalty statement?
This is something that confuses a lot of our authors and there are two main points to make.
If you are paid a royalty advance, this will show up as a minus figure until
you have earned it back through book sales.
The income on the statement is split into several categories such as ‘export special’ etc. We are currently in the process of getting a full and sanitised explanation from the Royalties department and will hopefully be able to post it soon. In the meantime, if you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact either the person in charge of your royalties, whose name appears on the top right of your statement along with their direct telephone number, or us.


What does the legal jargon in my contract mean?
For a detailed guide to the more confusing issues raised by our contracts
always feel free to discuss your contract with us.


What is copyright and why do publishers ask for it to be assigned to them?
Copyright is literally the right to copy.
In writing your book you have created a copyright work and by law in order for us to publish the work you must grant us the rights to do so. It is our policy to acquire the entire copyright to your work throughout the world for the full term of copyright. We can then manage all aspects of the commercial exploitation of the work for you so that you do not need to spend time dealing with such things as the sale of the translation rights, permissions requests or instances of copyright infringement.


What are moral rights and what do I need to do with them?
Moral rights are separate rights to that of copyright and belong to the author of a work.
The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988,  and other similar European legislations, give creators of copyright works four moral rights, these are:
•  The right to be identified as the author of a work (‘the right of paternity’)
•  The right to object to derogatory treatment of the work (‘the right of integrity’)
•  The right not to have a work falsely attributed to him/her as author
•  The right to privacy (in respect of certain photographs and films only).

As publishers, we respect these rights and comply with the 1988 Act by asking the author to assert his/her right of paternity and undertake to ensure that the author’s name appears on every copy of the work produced by us. We also undertake to ensure that the content is not subject to derogatory treatment. This means that, aside from the normal editorial process, we will do our best to ensure that the work is not altered or adapted without the approval of the author.
Another definition of derogatory treatment is ‘distortion’ of the work. It is with regard to distortion of the work that the Act can cause problems for publishers and authors. Technically, the act of digitisation and manipulation of a paper work necessary to convert it into an electronic format is a ‘distortion’ and consequently derogatory. We ask our authors to waive their moral rights in relation to the exploitation of the work in electronic form.


Warranty and indemnity: why do publishers need this?
Our author contract, in common with those of most commercial publishers, contains a warranty and indemnity clause. The reason we require authors to sign up to such a clause is because we as publishers have no independent way of knowing whether or not a work is the author’s own original work.
The author is the only one who can give an absolute warranty, that his/her work does not violate or breach any existing copyright or contain defamatory or libellous material and that it is an original work. We, therefore, need to include a clause in the agreement to ensure that the author takes responsibility for the content of the work. An author who knows that he/she has gained the necessary permission to use third party material, or that his/her work is original and contains nothing defamatory or libellous has nothing to fear from the warranty and the accompanying indemnity.


Will my book be published in foreign languages?
Semar is an international company and we are always trying to build a more
co-operative network to make the most of the advantages this affords.
We will let our counterparts in other countries know about forthcoming opportunities
as a matter of course. We also have a very strong Rights team who sell foreign rights to other publishers worldwide and visit all of the major international book fairs to this end.
Please remember that not all books are suitable for all markets,
and that it is up to other publishers whether they want to take something on or not.
For more information on foreign rights see above, or our Foreign Rights Department.



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